The
recent passage of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and
the reaction--or better, lack of reaction--by the GOP's Presidential
candidates is a perfect example of how it will not matter to a Tinker's
Dam which Republican candidate wins the nomination, unless that candidate
is Congressman Ron Paul. This is what so many people within the so-called
Religious Right and establishment GOP just do not understand: they do
not understand the fact that America is in the throes of a burgeoning
police state. They have buried their heads in the sand for so long that
they wouldn't know what tyranny looked like if it came up and bit them
on their blessed assurance! They have totally drunk the propaganda Kool
Aid that purports that the biggest threat to our liberties comes from
the Sand People. Our Founding Fathers were a much wiser lot, of course.
They understood perfectly that the biggest threat to our liberties comes
from Washington, D.C., not Baghdad, or Tehran, or any other foreign
entity.

Listen
to Daniel Webster: "There is no nation on earth powerful enough
to accomplish our overthrow. Our destruction, should it come at all,
will be from another quarter. From the inattention of the people to
the concerns of their government, from their carelessness and negligence.
I must confess that I do apprehend some danger. I fear that they may
place too implicit a confidence in their public servants and fail properly
to scrutinize their conduct; that in this way they may be made the dupes
of designing men and become the instruments of their own undoing."

Yet,
except for Ron Paul, not a single Republican Presidential candidate
has issued the slightest warning regarding the draconian components
of the NDAA that literally turns America's homeland into a war zone
and, with the stroke of a pen, effectively eviscerates the Bill of Rights.
Why is that? Because, except for Ron Paul, none of them get it. Bachman,
Gingrich, Perry, Romney, Santorum. None of them!

The
day after Christmas, TheHill.com posted this report quoting Dr. Paul.
"GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul warned that the National Defense
Authorization Act, which was passed by Congress this month, will accelerate
the country's 'slip into tyranny' and virtually assures 'our descent
into totalitarianism.'

"'The
founders wanted to set a high bar for the government to overcome in
order to deprive an individual of life or liberty,' Paul, the libertarian
congressman from Texas, said Monday in a weekly phone message to supporters.
'To lower that bar is to endanger everyone. When the bar is low enough
to include political enemies, our descent into totalitarianism is virtually
assured. The Patriot Act, as bad as its violations against the Fourth
Amendment was, was just one step down the slippery slope. The recently
passed National Defense Authorization Act continues that slip into tyranny,
and in fact, accelerates it significantly.'"

The
Hill report continued quoting Dr. Paul, "'The Fifth Amendment is
about much more than the right to remain silent in the face of government
questioning,' Paul continued. 'It contains very basic and very critical
stipulations about the due process of law. The government cannot imprison
a person for no reason and with no evidence presented and without access
to legal council. The danger of the NDAA is its alarmingly vague, undefined
criteria for who can be indefinitely detained by the U.S. government
without trial.'"

The
report also quoted Congressman Paul as saying, "'The president's
widely expanded view of his own authority to detain Americans indefinitely
even on American soil is for the first time in this legislation codified
in law,' Paul said. 'That should chill all of us to our cores.'

"'The
Bill of Rights has no exceptions for really bad people or terrorists
or even non-citizens. It is a key check on government power against
any person. That is not a weakness in our legal system, it is the very
strength of our legal system. The NDAA attempts to justify abridging
the Bill of Rights on the theory that rights are suspended in a time
of war, and the entire United States is a battlefield in the war on
terror. This is a very dangerous development, indeed. Beware.'"

Then
again, not only are these pathetic Presidential pretenders not aware
of this fast erosion of our liberties being orchestrated by these miserable
miscreants inside the Beltway, how many of you folks who go to church
every Sunday hear your pastor say a peep about the totalitarian elements
contained within the NDAA? Yep! That's what I thought! They don't get
it, either!

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For
that matter, where is the first State Governor, Lieutenant Governor,
or Attorney General to say, "Not in my State!"? Where are
the county sheriffs to say, "Not in my county!"? (I can promise
you this, if Bob Fanning and Chuck Baldwin are elected Montana Governor
and Lieutenant Governor in 2012, we will say it! And we will say it
loudly enough that everyone in Washington D.C., will be able to hear
it!)

And
speaking of Montana, it is extremely encouraging to learn that my friend
and Oathkeepers founder, attorney Stewart Rhodes, is leading a recall
petition against the two US senators from Montana who both supported
NDAA. Salem-News.com has the story: "Moving quickly on Christmas
Day after the US Senate voted 86-14 to pass the National Defense Authorization
Act of 2011 (NDAA) which allows for the indefinite military detention
of American citizens without charge or trial, Montanans have announced
the launch of recall campaigns against Senators Max Baucus and Jonathan
Tester, who voted for the bill.

"Montana
is one of nine states with provisions that say that the right of recall
extends to recalling members of its federal congressional delegation,
pursuant to Montana Code 2-16-603, on the grounds of physical or mental
lack of fitness, incompetence, violation of oath of office, official
misconduct, or conviction of certain felony offenses."

The
Salem-News report continued saying, "Montana law requires grounds
for recall to be stated which show conformity to the allowed grounds
for recall. The draft language of the Montana petitions, 'reason for
recall' reads:

"The
Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees all U.S. citizens:

"'a
speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district
wherein the crime shall have been committed...'

"[NDAA]
permanently abolishes the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial, 'for
the duration of hostilities' in the War on Terror, which was defined
by President George W. Bush as 'task which does not end' to a joint
session of Congress on September 20, 2011.

"Those
who voted Aye on December 15, 2011, Bill of Rights Day, for NDAA 2011
have attempted to grant powers which cannot be granted, which violate
both the spirit and the letter of the Constitution and the Declaration
of Independence.

"The
Montana Recall Act stipulates that officials including US senators can
only be recalled for physical or mental lack of fitness, incompetence,
violation of the oath of office, official misconduct, or conviction
of a felony offense. We the undersigned call for a recall election to
be held for Senator Max S. Baucus [and Senator Jonathan Tester] and
charge that he has violated his oath of office, to protect and defend
the United States Constitution."

The
report goes on to quote Rhodes (a Yale Law School graduate) as saying,
"These politicians from both parties betrayed our trust, and violated
the oath they took to defend the Constitution. It's not about the left
or the right, it's about our Bill of Rights. Without the Bill of Rights,
there is no America. It is the Crown Jewel of our Constitution, and
the high-water mark of Western Civilization." Amen, Stewart! Amen!

NDAA
should be to Americans in 2011 what the Boston Massacre was to the colonists
in 1770, because this Act literally massacres the Bill of Rights. (And
risking the charge that I'm tooting my own horn, when Montanans elect
Bob Fanning Governor and Chuck Baldwin Lieutenant Governor in 2012,
it will be the second "shot heard 'round the world.") And
of all the Presidential hopefuls, Ron Paul is only one who gets it!

P.S.
This is the final call for THE FREEDOM DOCUMENTS. To order this giant
compilation of America's great historical documents, click
here.

P.S.S.
To see the Fanning-Baldwin campaign web site, or to donate to our campaign,
click here.

*If
you appreciate this column and want to help me distribute these editorial
opinions to an ever-growing audience, donations may now be made by credit
card, check, or Money Order. Use
this link.

Chuck
Baldwin is a syndicated columnist, radio broadcaster, author, and pastor
dedicated to preserving the historic principles upon which America was
founded. He was the 2008 Presidential candidate for the Constitution Party.
He and his wife, Connie, have 3 children and 8 grandchildren. Chuck and
his family reside in the Flathead Valley of Montana. See
Chuck's complete bio here.

The Hill report continued
quoting Dr. Paul, "'The Fifth Amendment is about much more than the
right to remain silent in the face of government questioning,' Paul continued.
'It contains very basic and very critical stipulations about the due process
of law.